Sensor systems are generally known. For example, a drive element is known from German Patent No. DE 198 08 549, a drive electrode and a counter-electrode being developed as intermeshing comb structures. A seismic mass is driven capacitively, using the drive electrode and the counter-electrode, the drive element, in particular, being wired up with square-wave voltages, which are applied to the drive electrode at an alternating frequency matched to the natural frequency of the sensor, and is converted there also to square-wave force pulses. However, the square-wave pulses which are applied to such a micromechanical pattern, include not only the desired natural frequency, but also higher frequency components. Even if the micromechanical pattern has a low-pass response because of its design, the higher frequency components contained in the drive signal may impinge on the additional mechanical modes of the complex pattern and likewise get these interfering modes to oscillate. In order to avoid this, drive forces may be developed as a continuous signal (for instance, as a sine signal). The generation of a correspondingly suitable drive voltage requires a considerable expenditure for circuitry, such as a digital signal generation together with a digital-to-analog converter or an analog signal generation, in each case having a comparatively high resolution.